Maison Ventenac

Maison Ventenac

【Cabardès as it really tastes — simple and pure】

Maison Ventenac was founded by Stéphanie's parents in 1973 and taken over by Olivier and Stéphanie Ramé in 2011. It sits at the heart of Cabardès, looking down over the city of Carcassonne, with 130 hectares of vines facing the Pyrenees.

Making lofty, deified wines could not be further from the point here; the aim is wine that anyone can simply enjoy drinking. To that end the estate works with single varieties wherever it can. AOC Cabardès rules require a blend of at least 40% international varieties — Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot — with at least 40% southern French varieties such as Grenache and Syrah, but by bottling single varieties Ventenac expresses the identity of each wine simply and directly.

As for winemaking, the belief is that good grapes, the right soil and indigenous yeasts are all you need.

A seam of limestone runs beneath Ventenac's vineyards, and the wines carry notes of salinity, iodine and chalk. No sulphur is added at harvest, so that the native yeasts can go about their work.

Whites and rosés are vinified in stainless steel; the reds mostly in concrete, or in terracotta vessels of various sizes (160L, 530L and 1,600L), with a very small amount in 20hL wooden casks — curiosity leads the way, and many approaches are tried. No sulphur is added during vinification either.

All of which makes the case, and makes it forcefully, that the wines of Cabardès are by nature pure and fresh.